Character Analysis: On It's A Wonderful Life

Paper One It’s a Wonderful Life In this scene the protagonist runs up to a front door, the door is locked so he rings the doorbell and knocks on the glass. Then the scene cuts to a view from behind the protagonist and you see a sign. This sign illustrates visually that things are different. The protagonist hears the door open and as he turns his head the camera pans smoothly, tracking his view to the woman opening it. Her hair is harshly pulled back, devoid of make-up or jewelry, she is wearing a dark jacket, and this gives her appearance a cold and impersonal feeling. Now we cut back to our protagonist who looks at her with his mouth open in shock. Her eyes are narrow and her tone is aggressive. As he tries to explain who he is, he

Whenever you look at any of his scenes, all of these tools match the type of emotion that he is conveying. When he is excited his stance is like a tiger ready to pounce, his speech faster, excited, the pitch higher and words tumbling. His communication is so natural, you watch him effortlessly move from happy, to amused, his features register concern and love. Speech is a metronome and its speed and timbre an indicator of an impending storm, or the calm before it; and a father declaring love with a quiet whisper. His frustration is visually manifested with the kick of a car door, physically overturning a table, rapid breathing and running his hands through his hair. His growing anguish is shown by a desperate hug, hands wrung and tears. Stewart fully becomes the character he is portraying, he personifies all of the complexities of the character. In one of the films longest takes, his battle of emotions is palpable. He wrestles with ambition versus passion, as indicated by the clenching of his jaw and pursing of his lips, but when he smiles it is genuine, his cheeks rise, the skin around his eyes crinkles and his pupils

Capra uses music sparingly, the dialogue is given the priority as he is predominantly focused on the narrative. The music when added compliments each scene. Many of the scenes have only natural sound effects such as crickets or the wind. Capra utilizes a classical continuity style and the editing is fluid, seamless and smooth. Scene transitions are accomplished often through a wipe, which removes unnecessary and excess points. His cinematography is a simple language a type of visual poetry, he uses light and dark to great effect; silhouetting a character to highlight a change in situation. You instantly grasp that these characters do not know one another. Capra’s style has a purity and highlights the truth in the performances. You immediately know who the antagonist is, through the use of subtle low angle shots, where the other characters are inferior. This is reinforced by an over the shoulder shot angled down, we know that he is arrogant, powerful and dominant. Frank Capra uses mise-en-scene in particular lighting, props, and costumes to complete the picture of a scene. The décor matches the tone of a scene, homely for a friendly bar and impersonal crowded with smoke and tables. He easily choreographs the dance hall around the two protagonist’s seamlessly, so that we are focused on them and not the people dancing around them. He utilizes so many different tools in a director’s repertoire